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S3PEECH 



H0!(. JAMES HUGHES 

OF INDIANA, 



ADMISSION OF OREGON. 



DELrVEBED 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



FEBRUARY 10, 1869. 



WASHINGTONl 
printbd by lemuel towbbs. 

1869. 






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SPEECH 



HOI. JAMES HUGHES, OF INDIANA, 



^]D]Missio]sr OF OREaoisr. 



DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF EEPEESENTATIVES, FEBRUARY 10, 1859. 



The House having under consideratiou the bill to admit Oregon into tlae 
Union as a State — Mr. HUGHES said : 

Mr. Speaker: As a member of the Committee on Territo- 
ries, I concurred in recommending the admission of Oregon. 
As a citizen, exulting in the spread of our institutions and onr 
empire, I feel a deep interest in its consummation. As a 
Kepresentative of the people, I esteem it not only a duty, but 
a high privilege, to give it my support. 

A little over two years ago, a great party was organized in 
this country, which shook the world with its thunder in favor 
of " freedom," and, at one spring, well nigh seized the supreme 
power of the Government. Its special mission and purpose 
were proclaimed to be the admission of free States, and free 
States only, into our American Union. By its artful appeals 
to the passionate love of liberty imbedded in the hearts of our 
people, it consolidated a mighty power. 

As its first political work, overleaping all established forms, 
all sound conservative ^3rinciples, it took to its arms Kansas, 
with her Topeka constitution, and clamored for her admission 
into the Union, not as a peaceful and dutiful daughter of the 
Republic, but as the child of revolution, anarchy, and re- 
bellion. There the great mission of this party appears to 
have begun and ended; for when the hour arrived that even 
Kansas could have been molded at its will by the sure and 
simple process which all Americans understand so well, of 
dropping a ballot in the box, seven thousand out of nine thous- 
and registered voters abjured the high calling of freemen, and 



refused to go to the polls. Then catne Minnesota, a free State, 
and they opposed her. And to-day I liave caused myself to 
be conveyed to this House from a sick room to witness the 
spectacle of this great party's opposition to the admission of 
Oregon, and to aid with my voice and ray vote in preventing 
the accomplishment of its purposes. 

Oregon ought to be admitted, as a State, into the Union. 
There are many good reasons for it, and no reasons i\\?it 
ought to prevail against it. The act of admission is already 
half completed — the bill before us passed the Senate, by a 
vote of '35 to IT, months ago, receiving in that body the sup- 
port of men of every party. This, too, was on the 19th of 
May, 1858, two weeks after the passage of the English bill, 
a measure which is now invoked by some of the peculiar 
champions of "free institutions," to excuse this, their second 
attempt, to keep a free State out of the Union, which happens 
to come as a DemoGratic State. 

It rests with us to say whether Oregon shall become one of 
the United States of America. Tliis House will have the 
high privilege of adding to our national constellation a second 
Pacific star; or, the odious responsibility ot rejecting an ap- 
plication, not only just and meritorious, but made upon the 
solenm invitation, and supported by the solemn guaranty 
of Congress. A formidable opposition . is arrayed against 
this measure, and now shows itself in open hostility ; there- 
fore, it is proper to set before the House the claims of 
Oregon, and to examine the grounds upon which they are 
denied. 

The Territory of Oregon was organized by act of Congi'ess 
in 1848, and that aot, iu cxpix'ss terms, declares : 

"That the iuhabitants of said Territon* sliall be entitled to enjoy all and 
singular the ritrhts, privileges, and advantages granted and secured to the peo- 
ple of the territory of the United Stales northwest of tlie river Ohio, by the 
articles of compact contiyned in the Ordinance for the government of said Ter- 
ritory, on the thirteenth day of July, seventeen hundred and eighty-seven." 

In other words, the provisions of the famous ordinance of 
1787 were put in force in the Territory of Oregon by act of 
Congress. 

The iifth article of compact, in that ordinance, contains the 
following clause : 

"And whenever any of the said States shall have sixty thousand free inhab- 
itants therein, such State shall be admitted, by its delegates into the Congress 
of the United Statr-', on an equal fo'jting with the original states in all respecta 
whatever, and shall be at libertj^ to f^nn a permanent constitution and State 
government: Provided the constitution and government, so to be formed, shall 
be republican and in conformity to the principles contained in these articles; 
and, so far as it can be consistent with the general interest of the ( lunfederacy, 
such admission sliall be allowed at an earliej' period, and when tliere may be 
a less number of free inhabitants in the State than sixty thousand." 



Here is an enabling act for Oregon, pledging to her people 
admission into the Union with sixty thousand free inhabitants, 
or even with a less number,, if " consistent with the general 
interest of the Confederacy." 

In pursuance of this guaranty, the peoi)le of the Teri-itory, 
when they attained to the number of sixty thousand, in the 
year 1S54, took a vote uj)on the question of coming into the 
Union, and decided against it. Again, in the year 1855, 
another vote was taken on tliis question, and the decision was 
still the same. The people of this infant State, at that time, 
preferred to leave the expenses of their territorial govern- 
ment, amounting annually to about $34,000, to be defrayed 
out of the national treasury, to assuming the burdens of tax- 
ation incident to a sovereign State. 

They remained contented with their territorial government, 
engaged in agriculture and trade, developing the resources of 
Oregon, growing in wealth and numbers, and accumulating 
steadily all the elements of a prosperous and powerful State, 
until at length. Congress, desirous perhaps of relieving the 
national treasury of the annual expense of supporting a local 
government for a people so well able to pay their own ex- 
penses, and perceiving their titness in all respects to become 
a State of the Union, took the initiative, and proposed an en- 
abling act for Oregon. It passed this House on the 31st of 
January, 185T, with so little opposition, that the yeas and 
nays were not even ordered. 

In the Senate it was favorably reported upon, and fjiiled to 
pass only for want of time. 

The Territorial Legislature of Oregon being in session at 
the time when the enabling act passed the lower House of 
Congress, with so little opposition, and was favorably report- 
ed upon in the Senate, took it for granted, as they well might, 
that it would become a law, and made the necessary provis- 
ion for framing a constitution imder it. 

The constitution now presented to us is the result. So that 
the proceeding which brings it here was put in motion by 
this House. The Senate, though they failed for want of time 
to pass the enabling act, have accepted the constitution, which 
is its fruit, and passed the bill for the admission of Oregon, 
and now her application comes to us sanctioned decidedly by 
both Houses of Congress, and commended by the regular, or- 
derly, and harmonious action of her people. Who now pro- 
poses to shut the door in the face of this invited guest ? Why, 
strange to say, the leader in the movement, the gentleman 
from Fennsylvauja, (Mr. Grow,) who makes the minority re- 
port against Oregon, is the same representative who reported 



6 

the enabling act, advocated it, and superintended its passage 
througli the House. This is a remarkable change of front. 

The tergiversations of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, 
as an individual, are not of sufficient importance to require 
any comment from me in the presence of this House ; but, in 
this matter, he seems to be a representative man, reflecting 
the common sentiments, and cooperating in the common poli- 
cy, of a large number, perhaps a majority, of his party. In 
that light, his course is significant, and a fit subject for exam- 
ination. I am not altogether unprepared for thife opposition 
to the admission of Oregon. There is a party movement be- 
hind it. Aside from other evidences, which I will not take time 
to enumerate, the newspapers of the Republican party have 
announced what we witness here to-day, and furnished the 
reasons, or some of them at least, upon which it "is expected 
to justity tliis opposition. I beg leave to lay before the House 
two or tliree illustrations. The first, which I present, I sus- 
pect, is very inaccurate in the use of the names of certain 
members of this House, but not in representing substantially 
the line of policy contemplated at that date to defeat the ad- 
mission of Oregon, From the Neio Yorh Times, of Decem- 
ber 17, 1858, I read the following extract from its Washington 
correspondence : 

"At one time it was anticipated the Oregon bill would become a law at an 
eai'ly day in the session, with little or no opposition. Soaie facts, however, 
have just leaked out which develop a well laid plan for the defeat of the bill. 
Mr. Davis, of Maryland — 

That, sir, would have been prophetic if Maryland had been 
Indiana — 

— "will move an amendment in the nature of an ' enabling act' for Kansas, 
and this will receive the imited support of the Republicans, with some Dem- 
ocratic recruits. Mr. Hokack F. Claek and Mr. John Cochran, of New York, 
are among those pledged to its support. It is expected the Speaker will rule 
the amendment out of order. Indeed, the leaders of the plot admit that such 
an amendment would be out of order, and to dodge the fifty-first rule they 
will christen their bantling a 'substitute.' An appeal will he taken from the 
ruling of the Speaker, and the combination formed, it is believed, will be able 
to sustain the appeal, and adopt the substitute. This being done, a new combina- 
tion will take place, and the Black Republicans voting with the Lecompton 
Democrats will defeat the whole bill. It is possible that Oregon would have 
the easting vote should the next Presidential vote be thrown into the House, 
and hence the Republican anxiety to defeat the bill admitting her as a State. 
The whole thing has been managed up to this time with the greatest secresy, 
but 'murder will out." 

Mr. Davis, of Indiana. I was not listening when the gen- 
tleman read the extract from the Times. Did the gentleman 
allude to me ? 

Mr. Hughes. I merely said, that if, instead of Mr. Dayis, 
of Maryland, it had said Mr. Davis, of Indiana, it would have 
really been prophetic. Instead of Mr. Davis, of Maryland, 



it turned out to be Mr. Davis, of Indiana, who inored an en 
abliug act for Kansas. 

Mr. Davis, of Indiana. I do not understand that I have 
moved an enabling act. 

Mr. Hughes. Well, we will not dispute as to the construc- 
tion of the gentleman's amendment. 

More than a month after the appearance of the foregoing 
communication to the Times, I find the following telegraphic 
news in the New York Courier and Enquirer of the 8th of 
January : 

" Washington, Friday Night. 
The Republican Caucus to-night has decided to vote against the admission of 
Oregon." 

And we have now before us the record showing that the 
Republican party has three times refused a suspension of the 
rules to permit this bill to be reported. 

Mr. GiLMAN. Do I understand the gentleman to say that 
the Eepublican party, in its caucus, determined to oppose the 
admission of Oregon as a State into the Union ? 

Mr. Hughes. I read from a telegraphic dispatch to a Repub- 
lican newspaper. I do not place much reliance upon informa- 
tion from such a source, as a general thing; but it ought to 
be good authority with the gentleman from Maine. 

And again, as the plot draws nigher to its consummation, ' 
the following summary statement of the reasons upon which 
Republican members of this House base their opposition to 
the admission of Oregon, is sent out to the country through 
the columns of the New York Tribune of January 11, 1859: 

THE OREGON BILL. 
From an Occasional Correspondent. 

"Washington, Jan. 8, 1859. 

"You are aware that very many of the Republicans of the House have de- 
termined to oppose the bill for the admission of Oregon. Inasmuch as the in- 
troduction of free States to the Union is a prime object of the Republican party, 
its friends will naturally wish to know the reason for this departure from its 
settled policy. 

"The reason is at hand. It is found in the character of the Constitution 
which the miscalled 'Democracy' of Oregon has framed for the future govern- 
ment of its people. Concede, for the argument's sake, that -that instrument is. 
technical! j% 'Republican in form,' and, therefore, within the letter of the requi- 
eition of the United States Constitution; yet, in some vital particulars, it is not 
Republican in its spirit, but, on the contrary, is oligarchical and aristocratic. 

"I. It inhibits the immigration of free negroes and mulattoes; in reality, it 
excludes this class of people from the State. Of course, this is at war with 
that provision of the Federal Constitution, which insures to the citizens of any 
State the privileges and immunities of Citizens in each and all tl\e States. In 
many States of the Union, negroes are citizens, and enjoy all the privileges and 
immunities of the most favored class of citizens. But their exclusion from the 



8 

inchoate State of Oregon is more than a violation of the Federal Constitution 
It is hostile to the genius of free institutions, the liberal spirit of the age, and 
the golden precepts of the Christian faith. "We will not add that it is anti- 
democratic, because, as 'Democracy' is defined in the creed, and illustrated in 
the conduct of its current professors, we think this despotic and a diabolical 
provision is eminently Democratic. 

"II. It prohibits free negroes and mulattoes from holding real estate, or ma- 
king contracts, or maintaining suits in any of the Courts of the State. This 
prohibition is subject to the same constitutional objection as that which forbids 
immigration. It is more infamous than that inhibition. Negroes may possibly 
get into the State; they may be found on its soil. This inhuman clause of its 
Constitution denies them a home, or even a hovel. It forbids their working for 
hire; and, when outraged by the grossest attacks upon their lives, liberties, or 
properties, it leave them remediless. This is barbarous. It would disgrace the 
twilight civilization of the dark ages. It would befit the savage 'institutions* 
(if they have institutions of any sort) of the Fegee Islands. It is worthy only 
of the Democracy of Oregon. 

" III. While free negroes and mulattoes are forever excluded from the right 
of suffrage, the ballot boxes are thrown open to all aliens of all climes — ' Par- 
thians, and Medes, and Elamites' — provided there be no tinge of African blood 
in their veins. Many of our friends think that the attempt, now becoming 
common, to override the true intent of the Federal Constitution, by clothing 
with one of the highest privileges of citizenship those who are not now and 
may never become citizens, ought to be resisted whenever the issue is presented. 
The Oregon constitution flings it in the face of Congress, and it is believed that 
Republicans and Americans in the House will rebuke and repel it. 

"IV. Many Republicans oppose the admission of Oregon because of the pau- 
city of its population. They allege that the opinion is gaining ground, both in 
Congress and throughout the country, that, as a general aule. Territories should 
not be admitted to the Union until the inhabitants are equal in amount to the 
numbers required for a representative in the Lower House. It is believed thai 
Oregon has scarcely more than half this number. Those who resist the bill 
for this reason claim that it is not inconsistent with their readiness to admit 
Kansas with a smaller population, because that Territory is, by universal as- 
sent, an exception to general rules on this subject. 

"V. The bill is opposed, also, because of the invidious distinction it insti- 
tutes between Oregon and Kansas. By the English bill of the last session, the 
' Democracy' forbade Kansas, in case she repudiated the Lecompton swindle, to 
frame another Constitution until her population equaled the number required 
for a Representative in Congress. Using the argumentum ad hominem, Republi- 
cans insist that what was ' Democratic' in regard to Kansas is equally' Demo- 
cratic in respect to Oregon. Tliey, therefore, propose that .Jo. Lane and Dela- 
zon Smith shall tarry in Territorial Jericho till their Senatorial beards acquire as 
ample dimensions as those prescribed for the prospective conscript fathers of 
Kansas. 

" Such are the grounds — sketched in mere outline— on which Republicans 
who oppose the bill for the admission of Oregon plant their feet." 

Tliis "occasional correspondent," seems to understand tlie 
subject. He states the case with considerable candor, and 
with one very brief, but important addition, I shall accept 
Tiis statement as a fair exposition of the grounds of Republican 
opposition to the Oregon bill. 

I would add, that the approach of a Presidential election 
had made it expedient that the Democratic State of Oregon 
should be kept out of the Union, free State tliough she be, 
imtil after 1860. Her electoral vote, her two Democratic Sen- 



9 

ators, and above all, her representation in the next Congress, 
where the organization of the House, and perchance the choice 
of a President miglit be determined by her vote, render her 
a most nnwelcome visitor at the present time. 

I wonder if this occasional correspondent is a member of 
Congress ? If so, he must already have secured his return, 
for it is not often you find a Republican so frank in proclaim- 
ing his adherence to "negro equality" before an election ! 

VVe have now arrived at a point where the Kepublican 
party of this House oppose the admission of a free State into 
this Union, because its constitution does not make the negro 
the equal of the native born white man, and the foreign born 
white man the inferior of the negro ! These hypocritical 
professors of " popular sovereignty" who denounce the Dred 
Scott decision, and deny that the Constitution of the United 
States carries African slavery into the Territories, would re- 
fuse to a sovereign State the power to exclude free negroes, 
and maintain that the Constitution carries " negro equality" 
everywhere — not alone into Territories but into States also ! 

Mr. Stanton. I suppose the gentleman from Indiana de- 
sires to represent this side of the House correctly. 

Mr. Hughes. I let the New York Tribune speak for it. 

Mr. Stanton, I beg pardon. This side prefers to speak 
for itself. 

Mr. Hughes. I cannot yield now. I should be happy to 
hear the gentleman. B is a pleasure often permitted to the 
House, but one I cannot allow myself now to enjoy, being 
under a pledge to give part of my time to the gentleman from 
Ohio, (Mr. Nichols.) 

Mr. Stanton. Then the gentleman declines to permit any 
correction. I want to have that in the gentleman's speech. 

Mr. Hughes. Yes ; write it out and send it over, and I will 
put it in my speech. 

Let the Republican party stand by this issue. Let them 
put themselves uf)on the record. Let them votp against Ore- 
gon. When they stand unmasked before the world — in every 
American sense — hostes liumani generis — one look upon their 
unveiled faces will be enough for their constituents! 

Go then freedom-slirieker ! Vote against Oregon. But re- 
member, you vote against the compact of the ordinance of 
'87, expressly extended to that Territory by act of Congress. 
You vote against " popular sovereignty," and deny to the 
people of Oregon, the right to " regulate their domestic in- 
stitutions in their own way." You vote for negro equality, 
and plant yourself in opposition to the Constitution of your 



10 

country, wliicli you have sworn to support. You vote to detiy 
to the white foreigner, that which your enlarged philanthropy 
claims for the negro who happens to be born in the United 
States. You vote to keep a free state out of this Union — a 
State which comes on our own invitation, and comes in the 
most orderly, regular, and appropriate way. There are some 
of you that will not do this thing — and some that dare not. 
Upon tliose who do, I invoke the condemnation of an intelli- 
gent and patriotic people. 

Sir, I propose now, to make some observations on the ques- 
tion of population, and to enquire how far the case of Oregon 
comes within the rule applied to Kansas in the English bill. 
There are those in this house, who sincerely believe, that un- 
less extraordinary circumstances exist, forming a just except- 
ion, no State ought to be admitted into this Union, with less 
population than that required for a member of Congress, and 
who have evinced their loyalty to this principle by their votes. 
I profess to be one of that number. To such I would respect- 
fully address myself, in the earnest hope that I may remove 
any apparent difficulties, growing out of the rule, affecting 
the admission of Oregon. 

There may be those in this house, who having never acknowl- 
edged the principle of population referred to, but denied it, and 
voted against it, seek now to invoke it, as a pretext to cover up 
their opposition to Oregon, for partizan and other purposes. 
These I can neither hope to convince nor persuade, but I 
may exjjose them, by contrasting their present position with 
their past acts, and thereby destroy the moral force of every 
argument adduced by them, drawn from the question of pop- 
ulation. I desire to be understood, not as reflecting upon in- 
dividuals personally, but speaking of men in a representative 
capacity. 

On this question of population, there may be some diversity 
of opinion, among those who adhere to the rule requiring a 
representative ratio, as to the manner of its application. 
Some may stand for its rigid and literal enforcement, others 
only for a substantial compliance with it. With the latter 
class there can be no difficulty whatever in the case of Ore- 
gon. 

The actual population of Oregon is a question of fact. 
The evidence before this House, and the best evidence which 
the diligence of any member can procure, indicates that at 
the present time, the population of Oregon is fully up to the 
number of 93,420. I do not intend to go into details upon 
tliis question of fact, but will append to my remarks in print, 
the statement of the Delegate from Oregon on that subject, 
already in possession of the House. I also beg leave to quote 



11 

for the benefit of all with whom his opinions and example 
have weight, a declaration of Senator Sewakd, of New York, 
on this point. He says : 

"I do not think the matter of numbers is of importance here. The numbers 
are estimated at eighty thousand. Tlie present ratio of Representatives is nine- 
ty-three thousandfour iumdred and twenty. Eightij thousand is a practical com- 
pliance even if that rule should be enforced ; but I shall never consent to estab- 
lisli for my own Government, any arbitrary rule with regard to the number of 
population of a State." — Concf. Globe, vol. SG, part 2d, page 1964. 

I will say further, that as long ago as the 31st of January, 
1857, the House of Representatives had a statement before it 
of the Chairman of the Committee on Territories, of the 31th 
Congress, and in that capacity the organ and recognized lea- 
der of the Republican party, on Territorial affairs, which I 
will read from the debate on the enabling act for Oregon: 

"The population of Oregon, so far as the best information which we have goep, 
consists of somewhere about ninety thousand." — Conff. Globe, vol. 34, page 520, 

The same gentleman, (Mr. Gkow,) after having procured 
the passage through the House of the enabling act upon this 
and otlier statements officially made as Chairman of the 
Committee on Territories, comes here, after a lapse of two 
years, with his minority report, opposing the admission of 
Oregon, for want of sufficient population, and has argued 
here to-day that Oregon has not fifty thousand inhabitants ! 
And at his back come the men who aided in the passage of 
that enabling act. When Kansas presented herself before the 
31th Congress with her revolutionary, Topeka constitution, the 
gentleman and his party received her with open arms, he, as 
Chairman of the Committee on Territories, reported in favor 
of her admission, and they by their votes sustained his report. 

From that report, I beg leave to read two passages to which 
the attention of the gentleman from Pennsylvania and his 
Republican brethren is respectfully invited. 

First: 

"But when •their numbers and wealth are sufficient to justify it, and the 
people desire to take upon themselves the responsibility and expenses of a 
State Government, there is no longer any occasion for the guardianship of Con- 
gress, and no reason why their request should be delayed or refused." 

Second : 

"The population of Kansas, from the most reliable sources of information, is 
nearly or quite equal to the present fractional i-atio for a member of Congress 
in the States, and greater than the representative population of many of tlie 
States at the time of their admission into the Union. So there can be no 
valid objection to her admission on account of insufficient population." 

So that the gentleman from Pennsylvania and his party 
stand fully committed to the position, that " there can be no 
valid objection on account of insufficient population," to the 
admission of a State with the fractional ratio of fifty thousand 
inhabitants. 



12 

Then wliy oppose the cKluiission of Oregon, which, accord- 
ing to his own statemeni made to the House, had ninety 
thousand inhabitants two years ago? 

The chief reliance of Ttejmhlicans to justify their op])Osition 
to Oregon before the country seems to be the fallacious argu- 
ment, that the Democratic party having applied a restriction 
to Kansas, it is right to apply the same to Oregon. I would 
recommend to them to look after their own consistency and 
leave the Democratic party to take care of theirs. 

And here I am reminded that thisTopeka precedent covers 
another point in the case under consideration — the question 
of free-negro exclusion. It is true, no such heresy as negro 
disabilities was permitted to deform the fair face of that 
darling child of Republicanism, the Topeka constitution, but 
the forbidden fruit was jjermitted to Kansas, the favorite 
daughter, in a not less substantial form ; and the vote which 
admitted Kansas into the Union, under that instrument, must 
have spoken into existence a Legislative Assembly, bound 
by imperative instructions to enforce those disabilities by law. 

Leaving for the present the question of population, I will 
proceed to state, what seem to me, the paramount claims of 
Oregon to admission. 

Her organic act entitles her to admission with sixty thou- 
sand inhabitants, and it is conceded on all hands she has far 
more. Her application is made in fact upon the invitation of 
Congress, as already shown. She lies remote from the central 
Government, upon a distant seaboard — she has been for ten 
years in a territorial condition, and her growth has been grad- 
ual, healthy, and permanent; she is at present an expense to 
the General Government and both able and willing to support 
herself. Her people are all either Americans or thoroughly 
Americanized, and her early settlers held the country for us 
and established our jurisdiction there, when it was in dispute, 
and secured to this confederacy a magnificent empire on the 
Pacific. Her constitution is republican in form, and made 
and ratified with great regularity and unanimity by her 
people; and, finally, it was well understood when the Kansas 
question was settled, that no rigid application of the popula- 
tion principle was to be enforced to the prejudice of Oregon, 
whose application was then pending. 

With respect to the constitution of Oregon, against which 
so many objections are now urged by the Republicans of this 
House, even Mr, Sewaed, of New York, who disapproves the 
disabilities it imposes on free-negroes, has said in the Senate: 

"They (the people of Oregou) have made a constitution wliich is acceptable 
to themselves; and a constitution wliicli however much it may be criticised 
here, after all, complies substantially with everj' requirement which the Cou- 



13 

gress of the UniteJ States, or any consijeniblc portion of either House of 
Congress has ever insisted on, in regard to any State." — Cong. Globe, vol. 36, 
part -id', p. 2209. 

If tliere be any Southern Democrats in this House, who, 
still unconvinced by the evidence that lias reached them, of 
the fact that Oregon contains ninely-three thousand four 
hundred and twenty inhabitants, feel inclined to make a rigid 
application of the representative ratio in this case and to 
vote against this bill for that reason, I entreat them, to hear 
me. 1, perhaps, am as little biased by interest, as little 
trammeled by popular feeling upon questions of this nature, 
as any man in this body. I am in a position to be impartial 
and independent. My race is run. The grass grows green 
over my political grave, and I speak as a voice from the spirit 
land. _ I stood side by side with these gentlemen through the 
trying scenes of a long and turbulent session, in defence of 
the principles and the -integrity of the Democratic party. 
Having fallen at my post in the discharge of my duty, I am 
content. Now, I say to these gentlemen, to this House, and 
to the world, that I did understand, when sustaining with 
my voice and my vote the ratio principle in the English bill, 
that the pending application of Oregon was not to be affected, 
imperiled, or cut olf, by any quesrion of population being 
sprung upon her. So this matter is treated in the message of 
the President, who says : 

"Of course, it would be unjust to give this rule a retrospective application 
and exclude a State which, acting upon the past practice of the Government, 
has already formed its Constitution, elected its Legislature and other officers, 
and is now prepared to enter the Union." 

When the Lecompton storm was at its worst, when dissen- 
sions shook our councils, and defection thinned our ranks, 
when the, common enemy triumphed in our divisions, and ex- 
ulted in the hope of our speedy and final defeat, who stood 
Yorth more nobly or promptly, to take his fortunes with us in 
that memorable contest, than the gallant gentleman who sits 
upon this Hoor as the delegate from Oregon, and whose faith- 
ful and zealous guardianship of her interests has met with a 
merited acknowledgment in being chosen a Senator for the 
new State ? Is he to be placed in the false and suicidal at- 
titude of aiding to establish a principle which was to exclude 
his State from admission into the T iiion ! Would that be a 
fit return for his devotion and fearless advocacy of the right? 
In the very speech which he made.u})on the Kansas question, 
when rebuking some northern Democrats for finding pretexts 
to oppose the admission of slave States into the Union, he 
made the following declaration, and 1 well remember it was 
received with approbation by gentlemen from the South. 



14 

"Every southern member of the House, (said he) is ready to vote for the 
admission of Minnesota and Oregon without slavery, and to live up to tlie doc- 
trine that the people have a right to settle their own institutions in their own 
way." — Cong. Olobe vol. Z&, part 2nd., p. 1396. 

In the same speech, he expressed his conviction that Ore- 
gon would be speedily admitted. Her application was then 
pending, if the question of population was to be made upon 
Iier, and a rigid enforcement of the repi'esentative ratio re- 
quired, did not candor and fairness demand that it should then 
have been made known ? As the applications of these two 
Territories, Kansas and Oregon, were both pending at the 
same time, I have confidentl}' looked forward to the day when 
Oregon, a free State, would be admitted by the united votes 
of the Democratic members of this House, North and South, 
to furnish to the country a conclusive answer to the miserable 
pretence of our opponents with which they seek to prejudice 
the public mind — that we have one rule for a slave State, and 
another for a free State. 

I believe I know something of the Southern people. An 
appeal to their patriotism and sense of honor will not be made 
in vain. Vote, then, tor the admission of Oregon, and tell the 
people of the South that, whether well-founded or not, the im- 
pression was firmly seated in the northern mind, that honor 
and good faith, on the part of the South, required it; and 
tell them, too, that the voices of northern martyrs came to 
you from the political spirit-land, beseeching you not to give 
aid and comfort to the enemy, in the rejection of Oregon, but 
by extending to her a cordial welcome, to strengthen still 
further the integrity and nationality of that Democratic party, 
which is the only remaining hope of the country. 

It seems to me, that every consideration which ought to 
prevail with enlightened statesmen, demands the immediate 
admission of Oregon. It is our obvious policy, to build up 
at once, powerful States on the Pacific. Their growth should 
be stimulated, their governments strengthened, and their aftee- 
tions drawn to us by every legitimate means. We have an 
empire there, traversed by the pathwaj's of commerce and 
destined at some future day to be the abode of millions. It 
is both our interest and our duty to establish there powerful 
and self-sustaining State Governments, and to sieze the gate- 
ways of the Isthmus, and the island that commands the gulf, 
and hold them against the diplomacy or the arms of the 
world. The admission of Oregon as a State of the Union, is 
but one step in a policy demanded by our security as a nation, 
and which should never stop short of commanding the sym- 
metrical outline essential to our strength and indicated by 
nature for the preservation of our interests and our supremacy 



15 

upon this Continent. The people are prepared for this policy, 
surely the representatives of the people can give it their sup- 
port. I trust this bill may pass. Its defeat will be a grievoug 
wrong to the people of Oregon, a severe blow to the Demo- 
cratic party, and a great calamity to our whole country. 

Mr. "Wilson. Was not my colleague defeated upon the 
ground that he sided wnth the Administration and its meas- 
ures? Did not two-thirds, at least, oi the Democratic candi- 
dates of Indiana repudiate the English bill ? 

Mr. Hughes. The other Democratic candidates that are 
alive or dead, politically, may speak for themselves ; I speak 
for myself only. I was defeated because, to be brief, the 
great Republican party first marched up the hill and supported 
the Montgomery amendment and formed a coalition with the* 
Douglas men, and then marched .down again. I did stand by 
the Administration and the English bill, and intend to do so 
to the end. A division in my own party caused the election 
of a Kepublican, who received a minority of the votes given. 
The candidate of the Republican party came before the people 
of my district and repudiated the cardinal principle of that 
party. He said that it was not and never had been a principle 
of the Republican party that no more slave States should come 
into the Union. He said that he would vote for a slave State ; 
and that he would vote for the admission of Oregon. And, 
when I predicted to the people there the scene in which we 
have been engaged to-day, that it would as surely take place 
as Congress convened ; that his party would endeavor to 
establish the doctrine which they cherish at heart — the doc- 
trine of negro equality — he repelled the charge with emphasis ; 
but this day, sir, has fulfilled my prophesy, and shown that 
they advocate a doctrine upon which they cannot stand for 
one hour in the State of Indiana. 



APPENDIX. 

House oe Represent4Tive9, December 15, 1858. 
To the Committee on Territories : 

In relation to the population of Oregon, I have to say, that I have no means 
of knowing the exact number of our inhabitants, but from a thorough knowl- 
edge of the country, having been in all settled portions of that Territory, I 
have no hesitation in saying, in believing, that our population is very nearly 
equal to the ratio upon which Representation is based; and in my judgment, 
it is very safe to say, if we have not the exact number to entitle us to a Repre- 
eentative in Congress, that it is a very small fraction below. 

Yery truly yours, 

JOSEPH LA>'i;, 
Hon. Alixander H. Stephens, Cf firman. 



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